Week 5 Report - Guatemala MTC

We just got a short group email from Joseph today, but that is okay, cause he sent me a long email afterward with some of his journal entries, thanks to the Alphasmart which he just got this week, cause he got my package early! I didn't think he'd get it until he was in the field cause people on the mission mom's facebook page said the missionaries in the MTC don't/can't receive packages. So our expectations were low and we figured he'd just have to wait until he got in the field. A good thing about low expectations is when things come through early, it's a really nice surprise! He said it was like Christmas. So I'll post his mass email first and then will add some more with some of the interesting thoughts from his long email to me.

And I got a kick out of the subject of his email "week 5?" - lol, it might be a good sign that he's found his rhythm and that time is going by more quickly.
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    Subject:   week 5?                                         

Hey all! So today was a great week. Pretty normal haha kinda like last week. Nothing too exciting just learning spanish and marking scriptures and all that. The temple here, which we go to on Pdays is pretty small.

Kinda shows how truly humble the people here are and I can't wait to get out and get to know more of them. You hear a lot that you need to love the people and from the interactions we've had with them I totally do. Like just our teachers here at the CCM and people in the temple. There's less than 6 days left here and we leave I think early next Tuesday morning. Not sure how pday will work next week so if I don't send anything for another 2 weeks that's why but I guess we'll see. I'm excited to get out there though.

My Mom send down a package with mayanXpress (some special packaging system) and since the MTC here can't take packages we sent it to the mission home. Then after all the new guys got here a bunch of guys in my district also got packages from home from mayanXpress but I didn't because we sent it to the mission home. So I didn't think I'd have it for a few weeks but then they figured out where I was I guess and brought it here so I got my first package! It felt like Christmas haha and I am definitely going to ration the candy they sent. Something pretty helpful that came in the package was the Alphasmart 3000. Basically its a keyboard that you type in and it holds all your files. So I've been writing in my journal on it too and that way we can have it digitized as well and my mom will keep track of it and then it'll be super easy to search through after I'm back from the mission. Not sure if the Alphasmart 3000 is allowed in the field so we'll see but there are a few people here in the CCM that have them too. It's pretty helpful but the hard part is making sure to stay focused and not use it as extra time to write home.

Go and watch a MTC devotional by Elder Holland called Feed My Sheep. It's super powerful especially if you're on or getting ready for a mission. Also go and read a talk called the Fourth Missionary. I have not read it but Hermano Herrera said it's really good and he told us a little bit about it.

Thats all folks
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So here's the MTC Devotional talk by Elder Holland that he mentioned-

And a link to a pdf copy of The Fourth Missionary Talk by Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge

A few more things Joseph said in his journal entries -